


Only A Text Away

by BDJ



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Sick Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-05 03:40:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1803961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BDJ/pseuds/BDJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In light of Harry being sick on tour and my need to write something quick this week.</p><p>Also, Narry is just so adorable.  I can't.  I have to write these two more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Anne paused as she heard a cough from the hallway. Not the I’ve got something caught in my throat cough, something deeper and almost painful. 

“Uh oh.” Robin said looking up from his tea and over at Anne. There were few people who could deal with stubborn Harry when he was sick, and Anne was one of them. Anne had been half way preparing for this. The boys had been literally standing in the rain for the past few weeks for shows, and doubled with a soccer game in the same cold and rain, well, this was bound to happen.

“H?” She said quietly as she made her way to his room. I guess you could call it that? Really it was the second guest room but Anne couldn’t pull herself away from keeping it equipped with all things Harry. He rarely stayed with them, but the past week he’d been here and it was hard to imagine anyone else staying in his room, even if Robin called it the guest room. She thought the same way about Gemma’s room as well.

“Harry?” She called again through the door. The mom in her wanted nothing more than to barge in, but her little boy wasn’t so little and she had to respect his privacy to some extent.

“Yea.” She heard him say, his voice deeper than usual which was hard to imagine considering how deep his voice was now. When had that even happened?

“You okay?”

“Yea, ‘m fine.” He said, not with much convention.

“You sure?”

“Mhmm.” He said opening the door. She could tell by his eyes that he felt less than great but he’d never admit. Not with a show that night. Anne smiled gently at the man before her and pushed his hair out of his face feeling that he was warmer than normal.

“You want some tea?” She asked gently. Knowing that trying to force Harry into admitting he was sick would never fly so all she could do was help him push through tonight’s show and have him rest tomorrow on their day off.

“Kay.”

“Go lay down on the couch. Steal Robin’s newspaper or something and put something on your feet.” Yea, sometimes she had to pull the mom card out.

Harry smiled softly and shuffled back into his room to pull on a jumper, some socks and his beanie. He was so tired. He hadn’t been able to sleep at all the night before with all the congestion and his asthma was acting up which always scared him more because it was unpredictable and he never knew when it would act up severely.

Gemma was sitting on the couch with Robin sitting in his recliner both sipping tea and eating fruit when Harry moved into the living room coughing deeply.

“That sounds just lovely.” Gemma said looking her brother up and down and noticing that he wasn’t even trying to hide how crappy he felt. She figured that since he was home, he might as well let the guard down. He’d have to put it back up soon enough.

“I’m not sick.” Harry mumbled climbing onto the couch and laying his head in Gemma’s lap without asking. Gemma lifted her hands and placed them into Harry’s hair playing the the curls and laughing at how long he’d let it get over the past few months. 

“Sure thing. Yea. You always sound like this.” Gemma laughed watching Harry’s eyes slowly blinking. Give him 10 minutes. He’d be out. 

“You hungry?”

“No.”

“Well, that’s all we need to hear. You never turn down fruit.” Robin said from his seat looking at the two grown ups that were teenagers just yesterday. When had they become adults? He may not be their biological father, but he felt just as protective of them as their own father.

Harry didn’t respond, just coughed deeply again and groaned. Gemma sent off a quick text and gave Robin a knowing glance before continuing to card her hands through Harry’s hair.

“What time do you have to be at the stadium?”

“I dunno. Ask Paul.” Harry said, voice deep and raspy. Gemma almost would rather him not talk. 

“Because that’s the responsible adult answer.” Gemma said exasperated. Anne came back into the living room and smiled. It’d been a while since her entire family was together and granted Harry wasn’t his usual self, it was still nice to see Harry and Gemma playfully bicker while Robin ignored it.

“Here’s your tea Harry and something for your throat.” 

“I’m not sick.” Harry mumbled eyeing the medicine as though it had 8 heads. Anne just gave Harry her ‘don’t play with me’ look and Harry quickly backed down.

“Thanks Mum.” He said sitting up and taking the medicine and taking a sip of his tea. Anne could hear how much he was struggling to take a deep breath and made a note to make sure there were inhalers at the ready tonight. Harry had always drawn the short end of the stick when it came to his own body. Having severe hay fever coupled with asthma made getting a cold more difficult for him than most considering a congestion meant he couldn’t breath and not being able to breath meant asthma attacks over and over again. She rubbed his back taking note to see how bad he was wheezing before he laid back down on Gemma’s lap.

“What are we doing today?” He asked, his eyes dropping closed. It was similar to watching a toddler fight sleep; he’d lose eventually.

“Maybe we should just take a nap?” Robin said noticing how Harry was half way conscious as it was.

“Nooooo,” And there was whiny Harry,”it’s my last day in town and your anniversary. We should do something.”

“Well, what if we wanted to just lay around? That’s something.”

“Nooooo.”

“Stop whining.” Gemma groaned as Robin and Anne laughed at their antics. She may be groaning but she was just as worried as their parents. Getting sick on tour meant that getting unsick on tour was harder. There was no time to rest . No time to actually recover and the fact that Harry was getting this sick this early did not bode well for the rest of the year.

“I’m not whining.” Harry whispered as his eyes closed one final last time. His breathing was still much faster than normal but him getting sleep was the ultimate goal. Anne smiled softly and gently rubbed Harry’s ankle when their doorbell suddenly rang.

“Who’s that?” Robin asked quietly not wanting to wake up Harry.

Gemma just smiled softly congratulating herself for a job well done and Anne looked at her confused before seeing Niall standing in their living room.

“Found an Irishman at the door. Said he get a 911 call from here.” Robin said eyeing Gemma with a smile.

“Oi, something about a grumpy 6 foot tall toddler and an axe murderer? Details were vague so I brought backup.” He said nodding his head toward the door where Louis, Zayn and Liam all stumbled in. Liam because he was carrying bags of who knows what and Zayn because he was barely awake and probably didn’t even know where he was. 

“Mate. You have two legs. Use them.” Louis said propping Zayn up as he mumbled about leprechauns and child abuse. 

“Mate, you aren’t a child. It’s not child abuse.” Louis laughed.

“How. How’d we get here? I don’t understand. Oh, Anne. And Robin. And. What happened to my shoes?” Zayn grumbled totally at random.

“He’ll wake up soon.” Liam said, halfway convinced that Zayn may be high instead of just tired.

“Where’s the patient?” Niall said walking over to Gemma and crouching in front of Harry who had yet to even budge. Guess the medicine was working in that regard. 

“What are you boys doing here on your morning off?” Anne asked smiling gently. Harry had the best people in the world along on this ride with him.

“Heard we had a man down. This ship sinks together.” Liam said unpacking his bags. Meds, snacks, an extra inhaler and tea.

“Man down? Is Hazza sick?” Zayn said grumbling while curling up into Robin’s chair and falling instantly to sleep.

“Is he…” Gemma started.

“He’s just...he’s Zayn.” Louis said as if that explained it.

“Alright, you guys go. I know you had plans and he’ll be crushed if you don’t see them through just because he’s sick. And a sick, sad, guilty Harry is not what we want to deal with. Out. We’ll meet you guys at the stadium.”

“Okay, he’s wheezing pretty badly. If you…”Anne started.

“Get. We know, we know. A breathing treatment, steamed shower and plenty of water. We’ve been here before.” Louis said pulling Anne into a hug.

“I recognize that tree.” Zayn mumbled.

“Are you sure he’s not…” Gemma asked convinced that Zayn had to be drugged or drunk or dropped on his head.

“He’s just. He’s Zayn.” Liam said again.

Gemma just shrugged her shoulders and noticed that Niall was getting antsy. “Geez. Okay.” She said gently lifting Harry’s head, stilling as he shifted and grumbled before returning to a fitful sleep as Niall slide in to replace her.

“Thanks for texting me Gem.”

“Of course Ni. Take care of him yea?”

“Always.”


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, by popular demand, I've decided to continue the story!  
> Here is part 2.  
> Enjoy

Harry didn’t know much, but he knew that his shifting pillow was annoying the semi peaceful slumber he was trying to enjoy.

“Harry?” Someone said quietly, it sounded like Niall but he’s pretty sure he’s hallucinating. Niall wasn’t here, and Gemma didn’t sound like Niall. “Babe?” Gemma also doesn’t call him babe.

Harry moaned and tried to roll over on his super comfy human pillow when suddenly he remembered why his throat was on fire as a coughing fit erupted from his throat as he tried in vain to get it under control. He was quickly sat up and the GemmaNiall hybrid was rubbing his back and talking but he couldn’t for the life of him focus on anything else other than not choking to death.

“Babe, babe, breathe. You’re okay. Liam bring me his inhaler.”

Suddenly the only thing he could see was Niall. Niall was taking up his entire field of vision and man, his fever must be really high because Gemma also didn’t look like Niall.

He couldn’t get himself to stop coughing and suddenly he couldn’t breath. He didn’t care who the GemmaNiall hybrid was, he just needed to breath and they needed to help him.

“Honey, love. Calm down. Calm down.” The funny person in front of him murmured. There was something plastic thrown in his mouth and his instinct was to push it away as he quickly swatted at the object glaring at the GemmaNiall hybrid because was it trying to kill him?!

“Harry. Stop fighting me. It’s your inhaler. It’ll help you breath.” Niall said gently. What was worse than a sick Harry? A half awake one. Guy had a hard enough time figuring out where he was on a good day when he first work up. “Harry, stop it.” Niall said more firmly when Harry tried to push him away again. Harry paused and looked up at Niall and his eyes were just so pathetic that Niall had to smile just a little bit. “I know, I know, just let me help you.” He gently pushed the inhaler back into Harry’s mouth. “Deep breath.” Harry listened and took a deep breath as Niall pushed the medicine into his lungs.

“He alright mate?” Louis whispered quietly. Niall forgot they were even there. As he glanced up at 3 worried faces with a small smile.

“Yea, he just needs to wake up.” He whispered turning his attention back to Harry whose breathing was getting back under control and he wouldn’t take his eyes off of Niall.

“Hey babe.” Niall said gently pulling the inhaler out of his mouth and placing it on the coffee table, “You good now.”

“What…” Harry started looking at his other bandmates, “When did you guys get here?” His voice was deeper and raspier than usual and Zayn immediately got up to grab him some water and some cough drops.

“Gemma sent an SOS.” Niall laughed sitting back on the couch and pulling Harry against his chest.

“Oh. Why? Where are they?” Again, half awake Harry was the most adorable thing Niall had ever seen.

“They went to do their plans for the day, no worries, you’ll see them tonight okay?”

“Okay, I’m not sick.”

“Okay babe, you’re not sick,” Niall laughed, “but I really want some tea. Will you drink some with me?” Niall knew all the tricks. Harry refused to ever let anyone do anything alone. He was the worst ‘yes’ person - completely incapable of saying no.

“You never want tea...are you okay?” Harry asked sitting up quickly and noting his mistake as he squeezed his eyes closed to get rid of the dizzy feeling.

“You okay?”

“Dizzy.” Harry moaned as Niall pulled him back down.

“Do you need a doctor?”

“I’m not sick.” Harry said with little conviction as he started to cough again.

“Mmmhmm. You’ve just got something got in your throat, yea?” Louis laughed from across the room. Harry was absolutely the worse when he was sick. They spent days just making him realize he was sick. Admitting you have a problem is always the first step though, so, baby steps.

“I can sing tonight.” He looked up at Niall already pleading for them to not make him miss.

“We’ll see. You should probably take a breathing treatment before we head out though. And then we’ll take a shower and head to the venue for dinner.”

“Mmk.” Harry sighed standing slowly with Niall’s help - now that he was waking up more he realized how crappy he felt. But never crappy enough to cancel or miss a show, nope.

“We’ll be back guys.” Niall said as the other three looked at him with a smirk. Ever since they’d finally admitted they were in to each other and that it didn’t matter to the other guys, they were all relieved of the taking care of sick Harry responsibility. Yes, they still helped out, but when he was being especially stubborn the default was to send him to Niall. No questions.

 

* * *

 

“Alright Hazza, open up.” Niall said sighing at Harry’s pouting face, “None of that, we had an agreement. You wanna sing. You take a breathing treatment.”

“That stuff is gross.” He mumbled.

“You know what sucks worse than this?” Niall asked sitting next to Harry, he wasn’t afraid to use manipulation on Harry. Harry was the easiest to do just that too when he was being stubborn.

“Hm.” Harry asked eyeing the nebby with a critical eye.

“Seeing you have an asthma attack on stage and not being able to help.” Niall answered gently. He was being truthful. Seeing Harry struggle to breath was never enjoyable. Never had been. He had his first asthma attack backstage on X-Factor and none of the guys even knew he had asthma. He’d rather not go through that song and dance again.

“But I won’t…”

“What if you do? What will I do then?”

Harry looked into Niall’s sad eyes and felt nothing but guilty, “Okay, I’ll take it.”

*Success* Niall thought to himself putting the mouthpiece into Harry’s mouth and turning on the machine, “You know the deal, not until it’s all gone.” Harry sighed and leaned his head against Niall’s shoulder waiting until he’d inhaled all the medicine. Niall gently rubbed the hair on the back of Harry’s neck and began humming quietly enjoying the peace and ease of their relationship that they rarely got to have while on tour.

“Ya know, you’ve got to stop scaring me.” Niall said quietly thinking Harry was asleep as he usually was during a treatment, but of course Harry would do the opposite when you expect him to be doing something else.

“MMMMPH?” He tried to ask.

“I just. You keep doing stuff like getting sick or being sad when you’re in LA while I’m in London and I can’t do anything. It’s, it’s not fair ya know? I need you to get sick when I can help you and I need you to be sad when I can hold you and make it better. Not from a billion miles away. Can you do that?” Harry gently nodded his head against Niall’s shoulder. “Good.”

The two sat there until the medicine was gone, “Done.” Harry said. You could already tell that his breathing was easier and Niall was happy to see some spark back in his eyes even though you could tell he wasn’t 100%.

“Good.” Niall laughed kissing him gently.

“Niiiiiallll no. You’ll get sick.”

“Thought you weren’t sick?” He whispered not letting Harry pull away, one hand holding the back of his neck confirming that Harry had a temperature and the other running through his hair.

“‘m not. But, if I am, you couldn’t do that.”

“Mmmm, okay, I’ll keep that in mind. Let’s take a shower yea?”

“Do I smell?”

“You do. You’re letting yourself go Styles.” He joked standing and pulling Harry with him. “Off with your smelly clothes.”

“Niall?” Harry asked timidly while he pulled his shirt off.

“Yea?”

“I don’t feel very good.” Niall knew that when it got to the point of Harry actually admitting it, he had to feel pretty crappy, and he just looked so sad about it.

“I know. You know that if you can’t…”

“I can sing.”

“H, if you can’t you need to let us know so we can figure something out. There’s nothing wrong with taking a sick day.”

“But the fans will…”

“Will want you to not be sick on stage. I can’t tell you what you can and can’t do, but if you feel like you can’t do it, we need to let everyone know so we can figure it out. No one will be mad at you.” Sometimes, Niall was so logical.

“Management…”

“I don’t care.”

“You guys will…”

“We don’t care.”

“But what…”

“Harry, all anyone cares about is you being healthy. And you’ve got your sad Harry eyes. No one likes it when the cupcake is sad.”

Harry snorted at that which turned into a coughing fit, “Sorry.”

“No need to apologize.”

“Niall?”

“Yea babe?” Niall asked turning on the shower, they didn’t have much time.

“Love you.” When Niall turned and looked at his boyfriend, even looking like a sick, sad 6 foot tall child, he couldn’t help but let his heart swell.

“Love you too Harry. More than I can put into words.”


End file.
